Sorry, we’re going to be a little late.
Little was an understatement if she still wasn’t there at half past the meeting time. She had no real reason to be here except for the fact that Mai bribed her into it. She wasn’t particularly interested in seeing the busty woman or her companions. There wasn’t anything she was really looking for. And there were actually better things for her to do besides spending her time wandering the streets of this highly commercialized area.
So, she decided she would leave. In 10 minutes, if Mai doesn’t show up within that timeframe.
“I’m sorry, Nao. Did you wait long?” an out-of-breath Mai called from behind her.
Eight minutes. She was cutting it close. Not that she knew it.
“You have a lot of nerve begging me to come help out and then being this late. Do you realize what time it is?”
Mai clasped her hands together in an apologetic manner. “I’m really, really, really sorry. We missed the train that we planned to take, and then the next one was late.”
Nao turned her attention to the two figures hovering behind Mai, giving them a curt ‘hey’ before turning back to their mutual friend.
“What was it you wanted? I don’t have all day here,” she prompted.
“Oh! Um, the store is on the next block over. The desk I’m planning to get comes in multiple boxes, so with this many of us, we each only need to carry a little bit,” she replied as she started leading the way.
When they arrived to the store, Mai pointed to a simple desk with built-in sliding drawers and an optional shelf for more book storage so that they knew specifically what she was getting. Then, when she informed the store clerk of the exact model, color, and size of desk she wanted, she also mentioned to him the chair she planned to purchase.
“You didn’t mention anything about a desk chair,” Nao injected when the clerk went to check on the inventory.
“How do you expect me to work at my desk without a chair?” Mai asked, as if pointing out the obvious.
“I assumed you already had one,” the redhead retorted.
“She does,” Natsuki pointed out, speaking to Nao for the first time today. “Until certain restless roommate broke it.”
She turned her gaze to Mikoto, who pouted back at her.
“I tripped. It wasn’t on purpose.”
“You tripped because you kept jumping around the furniture. Honestly, why don’t you just go to the park when you want to play?”
Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt.
“Oh! Excuse me,” Mai interrupted, picking up her phone as she distanced herself from the chatter.
Nao watched as she walked away and made sure to keep her in her vision, though the conversation between Kuga and the human cat was not something she could easily ignore.
“How did Mai manage to get you to come out?” Natsuki finally asked.
“I’m collecting favors,” Nao replied nonchalantly, purposely omitting the part where she was technically bribed into it. “It may come in handy one day.”
The redhead watched as Mai continued her phone call, watching as the orange-haired girl walk in circles as she did so. After what looked like a few more exchanges, Mai ended the call and started her way back to her friends.
“Excuse me, miss,” the clerk caught their attention. “If you can follow me to get your items out of our storage, we can start the checkout process.”
By the time Mai returned, she had just missed the clerk’s request.
“Just in time. They want us to get the boxes out so we can pay for it,” Natsuki informed.
“Okay,” Mai replied, then turned to the clerk and smiled. “Lead the way.”
But something about the way she smiled didn’t feel right. Her smile actually looked kind of sad. She was hiding something. And whatever it was, it’s got her down. She could feel it.
Once the clerk received the okay from his customers, he started to lead them to the storage unit. Nao purposely lagged behind so that she could observe Mai.
Something in the way she moved right now is different. Less chipper, more forced. Something was definitely not right. Even though she continued chatting with her friends like normal. Even though she was smiling and laughing with them. She was definitely not smiling on the inside.
Nao placed a hand on Mai’s shoulder, causing the older woman to slow her pace and eventually fall in step with the redhead.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“Are you okay?” Nao asked, keeping her voice low so that the other two wouldn’t hear.
“O-Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Mai replied, somewhat shocked at the question.
“You suck at lying,” the younger girl deadpanned.
“What do you mean?” she continued to play dumb.
“Well, whatever. If you want to keep pretending, that’s on you. It’s not like I really care anyway.”
Mai paused. She literally stopped walking for a few seconds to let her brain catch up to what was happening. When she realized that everyone was slowly leaving her behind, she hurriedly jogged to catch up to them before falling in step with Nao again.
“How... How did you know?” Mai asked, voice low, yet serious.
No comments:
Post a Comment